


The Old Man and the Sea

by akgerhardt



Series: SFW [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: M/M, dirkcean (dirk ocean), local man fuckign dies but it's fine he's fi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-15
Updated: 2020-08-15
Packaged: 2021-03-06 06:54:49
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25909198
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/akgerhardt/pseuds/akgerhardt
Summary: "My darling, waves can be replaced..."
Relationships: Jake English/Dirk Strider
Series: SFW [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1277960
Kudos: 12





	The Old Man and the Sea

The bay is alive. 

It used to be a regular, nonsentient body of water, and it still behaves like one (most of the time). The most popular theories are that a paranormal sea monster moved in, or the last man that drowned there haunts it, or the man became the bay, somehow. There were few eyewitnesses of the day he disappeared, and you'd have to earn their trust and take them out for a couple drinks to learn anything. They're happy to reminisce about their old friend, occasionally in the present tense, but the most they'll tell you about the bay is that it's alive, and no one has been harmed there since- not even a measly shipwreck after theirs. 

The widower is tight-lipped and keeps to himself, prefers solitude. If you ask him about any of it outright, he gets nervous, laughs too much, and finds an excuse to hurry off if you don't let him change the subject. But the townspeople like to gossip, and they're happy to tell you about every time they've seen the ghost, that the man replaced the widower's reflection on the water's surface, how he'll sit on the shore for hours before dawn talking to himself or row out in a shitty kayak during storms. He swims quite a lot, too. There's a little island in the middle that he's rumored to spend most of his time at, out of view. 

One day, the widower will hobble down the pier, joints creaking with age. The water will rise up to meet him, surface bending with strange, luminescent veins and defying physics to take the loose shape of a man from the waist up, who will tower over him with solid, glowing eyes, sun illuminating the various fish swimming amongst seaweed and bubbles. The widower will step forward and place his hand on one of the enormous "fingers" extended to him, suspended in midair and dripping all over the already-flooded dock. Slowly, the water will sweep him up, pull him in, and he'll disintegrate into pure light that channels through the veins. It will fold over itself like a viscous material and return to the dark depths, leaving nothing but puddles on the wood.

The bay isn't alive anymore. The sea might be, though.


End file.
